Basic Information

Definitions, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Books

Books are a great place to start your research. They are usually more broad and comprehensive
than journal articles and can help you understand your topic before further searching.
For more books, search the Library Catalog.
Start with a subject or keyword search on a broad subject.

Visit the Reference section (1st floor) or Stacks (2nd and 3rd floor) of Martin Library of the Sciences. Books are shelved by Library of Congress call numbers:

Find an Article

What to look for ... Scientific Literature

Scientists communicate and document their research in a very specific way.
The scientific journal article(peer-reviewed article, primary literature) is designed to allow each reader to critically evaluate the content.

Articles written by scientists, for scientists usually have the following:

Section

Definition

Allows evaluation...

Author(s)

Names, affiliations, and corresponding contact information

Authors take responsibility for the validity of the information and their credentials are listed.

Abstract

Summary of the article content

Introduction

Provides a framework and connects the article to previous work

Background and context for evaluation.

Materials or Methods

Description of techniques and materials used

Details to allow others to duplicate (check) the research.

Results

Detailed experimental data

Others can draw their own conclusions directly from the original data.

Discussion or Conclusion

Usually ties the data to a larger picture

References

Citations, a list of the works consulted in the author's research

Allows others to retrace the author's thought process.

All the information needed to evaluate the conclusion is included in the article.
In addition, most scientific journals are peer-reviewed.

Standard for Comparison

When you use other sources of information, ask yourself how the source compares to a journal article.

If it doesn't have the built-in checks and authority of a journal article,
what advantages does it have that make it worth using instead of a journal article?

How to look ... Search Strategies

STEP 1 State your research topic or question in one or two sentences.STEP 2 Break your sentence into key ideas or concepts.STEP 3 List other words to describe your concepts.STEP 4 Translate into boolean.

Group similar words with () and connect them with OR.Connect different concepts with AND.

Where to look ... Indexes and Abstract Databases

The library provides two types of databases. Citation databases (or indexes) allow you to search many, many articles by different publishers, in different journals, in one place. Full-text databases allow you to read the articles, but usually only search one publisher or a few journal titles.

For best results, search a citation database for a topic, then go to the Journal Finder to find the full-text article. If you can't find it through the library, go to Interlibrary Loan.

The Institute of Scientific Information's premier citation databases in the physical, life, and
social sciences. Web of Knowledge searches science, social sciences, and humanities articles. Search for articles that cite a known author or work or by standard search queries.

Web of Knowledge is a citation index. After you find an article, you can look up the references cited by that article or more recent articles based on the original article.
Covers 1965 to the present.

Nearly 2 million records about geology and earth sciences. Covers 1785 to the present (North America) and 1933 to the present (entire world).

Get Full-Text

The Library provides access to over many journal titles specifically for Geology and many more with some Geology content.

For best results:
1. Find a citation (using Web of Science or GeoRef).
2. Go to Journal Finder and enter the Journal Title in the E-Journal Portal search.
3. From the journal entry you can navigate to the year, volume, issue, and page number of the article.
4. If the Library does not subscribe to the journal (or your article), you may be able to get it through Interlibrary Loan.

More Resources and Websites

Government Documents

Franklin & Marshall College is a selective depository for the United States federal documents.
We house many USGS (United States Geological Survey) maps and documents on the 2nd floor.

Connections to newspaper articles (including New York Times and Washington Post), business information (including SEC filings), and legal resources (including state and federal case law). For Mac Users - Please use Safari or Google Chrome as your browser.

Websites

Search for articles, theses, books, and abstracts from publishers, professional societies, institutional repositories, and the web. Note: If you follow a link and are asked to pay to access the article, consider accessing (for free) through the library website or Interlibrary Loan instead.